Donald Trump says former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush would have claimed the Republican Party's presidential nomination if the real estate mogul had decided not to run.

"I think Jeb would have been the nominee had I not gotten in, but I was able to define Jeb early," Trump said in a New York Times interview.

"Don't forget I'm the one that, when Jeb would say, 'The country was safe when my brother was president,' I said, 'Excuse me, the World Trade Center came down.' Do you know, nobody thought of that? It’s like the paper clip. Nobody thought about the paper clip except for the guy that thought of it, and he became rich. And everyone else said, 'Why didn't I think of that idea?'"

Trump had a strongly successful day Tuesday in the New York primary, picking up 89 delegate votes to Cruz's zero. Ohio Gov. John Kasich earned four delegate votes.

Trump now has 845 delegate votes, while Cruz has 559 and Kasich has 147.

Trump has said many times in recent weeks, and he said it again in the Times interview, that the GOP's delegate system is "rigged."

"It's a rigged system. It's a disgraceful, disgusting rigged system in the Republican Party," Trump told the Times. "Worse than the Democratic Party, because in the Democratic case it's obvious with superdelegates. Look at Bernie. He wins every week, and everyone says he can’t win.

"The Republican Party is worse, the Republican Party has a system where you can buy the delegates if you want."